Chuck Hillig - Your story is sticking to you

You can't turn either towards Consciousness
or away from Consciousness.

In fact, "you" can't even "turn" at all because
your life is really only a melodramatic story that
Consciousness has been telling Itself.

And your only choice is whether or not you want
to believe in the validity of your story.

As usual, the ego wants to proudly say, "That's
my story and I'm sticking to it."

Actually, since you and your story arise
simultaneously, your story is also sticking to
you!

Without the historical framework of your time-
based story, though, "you" are really "no-thing."

Actually, being "no-thing" might not be such a
bad idea.

Chuck Hillig 

Rashani Réa - The Unbroken

 

source  RoadioArts

The Unbroken

There is a brokenness
out of which comes the unbroken,
a shatteredness
out of which blooms the unshatterable.
There is a sorrow
beyond all grief which leads to joy
and a fragility
out of whose depths emerges strength.

There is a hollow space
too vast for words
through which we pass with each loss,
out of whose darkness
we are sanctioned into being.

There is a cry deeper than all sound
whose serrated edges cut the heart
as we break open to the place inside
which is unbreakable and whole,
while learning to sing.

read more  here

Milarepa's Song For Nepali Dharmabodhi

The Man who can watch his mind without distraction
Does not need to gabble or chat.
The man who can be absorbed in self-awareness
Does not need to sit stiffly like a corpse.
If he knows the nature of all forms
The eight world1y longings disappear by themselves.
If he has no desire or hatred in his heart
He doesn't need to show off or pretend.
The great Awakening of the Bodhi mind,
That goes beyond Samsara and Nirvana both,
Can never be achieved by searching and by wanting.

Mike Graham - Karma

David Godman, in Ramana Maharshi's 'Be As You Are' defines Karma thus

"In its most popular form it states that there is a universal accounting system in which each individual must experience the consequences of all his actions [karmas]; good actions bring good results and bad actions inevitably result in suffering to the one who does them." 

It is always 'someone' that has Karma, whether it be 'good karma' or 'bad karma'. There has to be an identity there, a 'me'.

Your true nature is Awareness / Consciousness / Presence - Awareness and it is not personal. There is no separate individual there at all. No-one there to have any kind of Karma at all.

Your true nature is Awareness / Consciousness / Presence - Awareness and is Non Dual. Non Dual means that it is not within the pairs of opposites. In the absence of Duality it is not possible to have good karma or bad karma - that is in the Dualistic world. Your true nature is NonDual - so there is no karma.

On the other hand, it is normal as a human to believe that you are a separate individual - the 'me'. The 'me' is a sense of self that we were not born with. It is not a part of the natural state. The 'me' is a self image that developed in early childhood with the beginnings of conceptual thought.

The 'me' is a conceptual image of who we think we are but it is no longer regarded as an "image of who we are" - it is the actual 'me'. This is 'me'. This is how 'I' am. The 'me' is the product of thought.

The mind itself operates within the pairs of opposites and is by its very nature Dualistic. The self image, the 'me' is Dualistic in its essential nature as it is the creation of Dualistic thought.

So that poses a not very difficult question - "Who is it that has Karma?"

The answer is that is it the 'me', the one who has a sense of being a separate person, the one whose essential nature is Dualistic.

The 'me' has all the requirements for excellent good and bad karma, especially the latter! The 'me' is the suffering one, so that fits very well. It is the one who wants to escape 'bad karma' and keep 'good karma' so that fits even more.

The solution - see that the self image, the 'me', is a fiction. Karma depends in its entirety in the belief in the person who I think I am - which does not happen to be true.

Our true nature is Awareness, not a dead conceptual image based on the past.

That is all.

That is the end of Karma.

Written by Mike Graham, 2 Feb 2008

 

 

The End of Seeking 

Ameeta - Don't seek to know

 source

Don't seek
to know
what you are
You could seek
forever
and still not know
the unknowable

Seek instead
to untie
the knot
that has you believe
you cannot be
what you are

Don't seek simply
to know
the truth
and stop there
for what we can know
is always partial
and cannot satisfy
our thirst for fullness

Seek instead
to untie
the knot
that has you believe
that you cannot live
what you are

And when
the knots untie
themselves
seek nothing
only be what you are
live what you are
and so know
yourself

Ameeta's blog here

Chuck Surface - That said…

source

It's impossibly complex,
This dance of formlessness in form;
Full of contradictions that are simply impossible,
And yet… so.

The Beloved is in my Heart,
Whether this body sits in a grey cubicle,
Or stands on a glorious beach.

She neither increases nor diminishes
In either place,
For Her Radiance is beyond conditionality.

To speak dualistically,
She lives in the so-called "inner" world,
Concurrent with the so-called "outer" world.

How do both exist at once, seamlessly?
I've no idea,
No mind for such complexities.

While seeking has ceased, “inwardly”,
Preferences, propensities, and proclivities exist
“Outwardly”.

I prefer lofty clouds, soft sand,
And the vastness of the beach,
To the grey cubicle.

But the Beloved...
Effortlessly ever-present,
Knows nothing of these differences.

She is in my Heart, Always,
In Her Secret Garden,
Where Inner and outer have never existed.

There is no need to move,
From here, to there,
To do this, or not do that.

Form arises…
Within and As
Formlessness.

That said…
Out there…
I prefer this to that.

Cream,
Two sugars,
Please.

source facebook Adrift in the Ocean of Bliss

The Kena Upanishad

That which speech does not illumine, but which illumines speech: know that alone to be the Brahman (the Supreme Being), not this which people worship here.
 
That which cannot be thought by mind, but by which, they say, mind is able to think: know that alone to be the Brahman, not this which people worship here.

That which is not seen by the eye, but by which the eye is able to see: know that alone to be the Brahman, not this which people worship here.

That which cannot be heard by the ear, but by which the ear is able to hear: know that alone to be Brahman, not this which people worship here.

That which none breathes with the breath, but by which breath is in–breathed: know that alone to be the Brahman, not this which people worship here.

Kena Upanishad pdf

Ramana Maharshi - All you need to do

  Every place is a place of arrival,
            every place is a true home for the practitioner.
            There is nothing that is not deep and wonderful,
            there is nothing that is not liberated.

            The most noble person is the person who has nothing to do.
            The only thing you should avoid is thinking about what
            you are going to do.

            All you need to do is be an ordinary person,
            be sovereign wherever you are and use
            that place as your seat of awakening.

            You should live your lives in a very natural way.
            Do not put on airs.
            When it is necessary to walk, walk.
            When it is necessary to sit, sit.

John O'Donohue - For Presence

Awaken to the mystery of being here
and enter the quiet immensity of your own presence.

Have joy and peace in the temple of your senses.

Receive encouragement when new frontiers beckon.

Respond to the call of your gift and the courage to
follow its path.

Let the flame of anger free you of all falsity.

May warmth of heart keep your presence aflame.

May anxiety never linger about you.

May your outer dignity mirror an inner dignity of
soul.

Take time to celebrate the quiet miracles that seek
no attention.

Be consoled in the secret symmetry of your soul.

May you experience each day as a sacred gift woven
around the heart of wonder.

art source 

John O'Donohue

Rumi - Gathering of lovers

This is a gathering of lovers.
In this gathering
there is no high, no low,
no smart, no ignorant,
no special assembly,
no grand discourse,
no proper schooling required.
There is no master,
no disciple.
This gathering is more like a drunken party,
full of tricksters, fools,
mad men and mad women.
This is a gathering of Lovers.

Jean Klein - Discovering the Current of Love / The Flame of Being

                            

Sat Chit Ananda

     One and all are the same to me. The same consciousness (chit) appears as being (sat) and as bliss (ananda): Chit in movement is Ananda; Chit motionless is Being.

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Sat Chit Ananda

Sat Chit Ananda is a beautiful pointer to our true nature.

It is usually translated as Sat meaning Truth, Existence or Pure Being, Chit meaning Consciousness and Ananda meaning Bliss.

Sat Chit Ananda can be a single word describing being awake. And we can also have a better understanding and confirmation of awakening as we look at the three aspects individually.

Truth, Existence or Pure Being is an absolute. Sat is what always remains regardless of time or situation. When we awaken, we constantly recognize Pure Being. We are consciously aware of Pure Being as our true nature, the core and foundation of all life.

Consciousness is the first manifestation of our true nature. It is streaming from all of creation. When consciousness becomes conscious of itself, it is like looking in the mirror at your own eyes or looking into the eyes of another. There is a simple and deep recognition of the absolute as your self and in everything else.

Amazingly, consciousness is often not aware of itself. It is usually the mind's distractions which keep consciousness from being "self-aware." However, when the mind is allowed to be still, consciousness can simply gaze upon itself, and Sat Chit Ananda is realized.

Pure being and consciousness are always present although they may not be recognized. And it is mostly the mind or ego which distracts us from the direct experience of this divine presence.

When the mind unwinds and becomes calmer, Bliss, Love and Happiness naturally arise.

They are not evoked. They are natural like light shining from the sun. The awakened one doesn't need to "think good thoughts" to feel good. Feeling good is our natural state when the mind is calm and open.

Ananda is so close. Letting go of the mind for a moment as we watch a sunset or a sunrise, Bliss arises naturally. So Ananda is as natural and inherent as Pure Being and Consciousness. Awakened ones simply have direct experience and knowledge of their absolute, untouched and eternal existence as Sat-Chit-Ananda, Pure Being-Consciousness-Bliss.

Letting go, and paying attention to what is always present naturally allows this divine life to overtake your existence.

Pure Being, Consciousness and Bliss are unavoidable.

It is more abundant than the air we breathe.

Sat-Chit-Ananda is and has always been your true nature.

One Sun and his beloved wife, Natalia